A short tale by EVE University’s Doctor Taunu – full credit to them.

My career as an explorer surely but steadily advances. The training of the last few skills to fly a fully fledged Buzzard instead of my trusty fledgling Heron are almost at an end. I would fly it into a sun as a goodbye, but it will reside in my hangar instead.

With this advancement in skills also comes an advancement in experience. Scanning a system down takes less time, the hacking game is becoming increasingly easy. But wealth is a hit or a miss. My usual point of entry is an empty system in high sec, but more often than not is the wormhole at the other end plundered, leaving only some tunnels to the next pocket in J-space.

So, time for a strategy change: on to low sec to venture forth from there. And yes, first try, great findings! I started my chain of wormholes. I paused, if only briefly, to marvel at monolith floating in space, full of stars. I collected a nice 75 million, and as that felt quite enough, I went to a nearby station, calling my hauler and trader alt. She flew to my current system, where a nice contract was waiting for her. She picked up the goods, and flew back home.

That was the plan. That monolith was a bad omen it seems. At one of the waypoints in low sec, a squad of Catalysts was camped where a moment ago space was empty. A skirmish so it appeared. But I needed to pass, and I tried for the next system. Tried is the key word here, as right when I uncloaked and started accelerating, I was held down by a few tracking beams. It spelled my doom. My loot, my Sunesis, and my trusty pilot went up in flames.

I mourned the loss of the ship and of the cargo.

Next time I’ll slip away before their eyes. But for now, they got their spoils, just as I will from the next exploration.

A short tale by EVE University’s Doctor Taunu – full credit to them.

The night was cold, but the will was strong. I ventured out in my basic to the bones Heron, into a wormhole. The nights before, no success. Enemies circled the sites. This evening was no different. Long scanning sessions revealed nothing of interest, but another wormhole within this one. Carefully bookmarking everything, I ventured deeper, comparing the visuals of this wormhole with their classes.

And yes, the scans delivered: all sites were ruined or central. Playing the hacking game, failing, succeeding: the cargo was nice and juicy, more than 70 million ISK. Not bad for a 4 million ship. Not bad for a new student.

Back I needed to go. Jumping back to the original wormhole, and then to my bookmark to exit. The bookmark was there. The wormhole was not!

The panic was as present as that orphaned bookmark, for surely my first haul would not go forgotten? I knew of other wormholes, and one led to known space. Null space. I jumped and jumped, frantically directionally scanning, frantically looking at local chat.

Null space was behind me, low sec, then high sec. Guristas had invaded! Luckily, I killed a singular drone in Pochven. I was merely a passerby. And passing I did by. I entered Jita’s system. I had my bookmark ready for a quick undock. The evening was a success.

The journey however is long. And it will be fruitful, with the occasional wreck. But I have enough to buy 15 more fully fitted ships. I am not scared.